Rather than try to read the tea leaves of various reported rumors, we thought it would be fun to speculate about Episode VII from a different perspective – by considering inferences that might be drawn from factors that seem likely to play a role in the movie’s development. So here’s our list of seven considerations to ponder in anticipating Episode VII.

Looking back over the four episodes, an arc that initially appeared to be delivering simpler stories about the Jedi younglings turned out to tell another adult tale that was really Ahsoka’s story. I’m beginning to think there was a good reason Christian Taylor, writer of the outstanding Mortis trilogy, was tapped for this arc: because Ahsoka isn’t just a great new character for The Clone Wars, but a test run for the kind of character – a strong female Jedi heroine – we could see as Sequel Trilogy’s lead protagonist.